Protective case having detachable impact absorbers for a portable electronic device

ABSTRACT

Provided is a protective case that can be installed with different replaceable impact absorbers according to various impact situations. The protective case has a housing and multiple impact absorbers. The housing has multiple corners, multiple receiving parts protruding from the corners, and a cavity to set up a portable electronic device. The impact absorbers are detachably mounted onto the receiving parts through multiple connection parts, and each impact absorber has a resilience ratio more than 40%. Various impact absorbers with different protection capabilities (e.g., impact absorbers with different thickness and resilience ratios) or different designs can be easily replaced and installed onto the common housing according to different impact situations or occasions, thereby the protective case can appropriately protect the portable electronic device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a protective case having detachable impact absorbers for a portable electronic device, wherein the protective case can be installed with different replaceable impact absorbers according to varying situations, such that the portable electronic device can be always appropriately protected by the protective case in varying impact situations. More particularly, the present invention relates to a protective case having detachable impact absorbers for a portable electronic device, wherein the protective case can be a bouncing case to convert impact kinetic energy into elastic potential energy when a portable electronic device is dropped onto the ground or hit by force.

2. Description of the Related Art

With the advance of technology, portable electronic devices are becoming thinner and lighter, and accordingly internal components and electronic circuits are more compactly assembled. However, such sophisticated and highly compact portable electronic devices can hardly withstand a strong physical impact.

In order to prevent the aforementioned problem, people often use protective cases to protect their portable electronic devices. However, protective cases at present are made either with rigid metal or with plastic, which only absorb impact and deforms/breaks during impact, rather than converting the impact kinetic energy into storage of elastic potential energy. Once the impact energy exceeds the amount of energy that a protective case can absorb, the excessive impact energy is transferred to the portable electronic device, resulting in damage.

Other conventional protective cases with impact absorbers are made in an integral configuration, which only provides one constant efficiency for converting the impact kinetic energy into storage of elastic potential energy. However, the impact kinetic energy generated from a portable electronic device dropped to the outdoor ground is significantly different in intensity from that dropped to the indoor ground. For appropriate protection in varying impact situations, a user may have to purchase various protective cases with different protection capabilities to protect the portable electronic device, thereby bringing inconvenience and extravagance.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the drawback that the conventional protective case cannot be installed with various replaceable impact absorbers to appropriately protect a portable electronic device from damage in varying impact situations, an objective of the present invention is to provide a protective case having easily-detachable impact absorbers for appropriately protecting the portable electronic device in varying impact situations and occasions.

To achieve the foregoing objective, the present invention provides a protective case having detachable impact absorbers for a portable electronic device, comprising:

a housing having:

-   -   multiple sidewalls connected with each other to form multiple         corners;     -   a cavity defined by the sidewalls;     -   multiple receiving parts each respectively formed protruding         from the corners; and

multiple impact absorbers each respectively and detachably mounted onto the receiving parts through multiple connection parts, wherein the connection parts are each respectively formed in the impact absorbers and cap respectively around the receiving parts.

Accordingly, the protective case having impact absorbers for a portable electronic device in accordance with the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

1. Since the impact absorbers are detachable from the receiving parts of the housing, various impact absorbers of different thicknesses, materials, shapes and resilience ratios can be installed onto the housing. As users move to a different location or occasion, the impact absorbers are replaced with other impact absorbers having the optimal thickness, resilience ratio, or shape, depending on, for example, indoor or outdoor locations, and thereby the electronic device can be always appropriately protected by the protective case.

2. Detaching or installing the impact absorbers from/onto the housing is easier than detaching or installing the portable electronic device from/into the housing, such that it is convenient to manually replace and install the impact absorbers.

3. It is further preferable to install the housing of the protective case with impact absorbers of accustomed designs to correspond to various occasions. For example, the housing can be installed with impact absorbers designed as balls when the user is at a sports ground, or with impact absorbers having cartoon characters when at an amusement park.

4. In view that various impact absorbers can be installed onto the same housing, only one single housing is necessary to create different types of protective cases, as said single housing can be installed with various impact absorbers. Accordingly, the protective case having detachable impact absorbers for a portable electronic device in accordance with the present invention is more economical than the conventional protective case.

Each of the connection parts either fully or partially caps around its corresponding receiving part. Preferably, a length of each receiving part capped within a corresponding connection part is not less than ½ of a total length of each receiving part.

Preferably, the receiving parts of the housing are formed in various shapes, such as spherical shapes, columnar shapes and conical shapes, and have shapes complementary to the shapes of connection parts. More specifically, the conical receiving parts are tapered toward the corners of the housing.

Preferably, the impact absorbers protrude relative to the sidewalls of the housing. In another embodiment of the present invention, the housing further has a bottom wall jointed to the sidewalls, and the cavity of the housing is defined by the sidewalls and the bottom wall. With the configuration, the impact absorbers also protrude relative to the bottom wall. When a portable electronic device enclosed within the protective case is dropped to an impact surface, the impact absorbers of the protective case will be the first contact points to confront the impact surface. The housing of the protective case as well as the portable electronic device enclosed therein do not directly hit the impact surface.

Preferably, the housing has a hardness equal to or higher than a hardness of each of the impact absorbers, such that the housing is not deformed by physical impact and can provide a firm support to securely enclose the portable electronic device.

As measured by Bayshore Resilience ASTM D2632 method, the resilience ratio of the impact absorber is more than 40%. If the portable electronic device enclosed within the protective case is dropped to the ground accidentally, the impact absorbers of the protective case can convert most of the impact kinetic energy into the impact absorbers' elastic potential energy, and dissipate a fraction of the impact energy during each bounce, thus protecting the portable electronic device from strong impact force.

A desirable impact absorber with a resilience ratio of 60% correspondingly has a conversion efficiency of 60% from impact kinetic energy into elastic potential energy. For example, after a first bounce, 60% of the impact kinetic energy is converted into the impact absorbers' elastic potential energy, and 40% is dissipated as other forms of energy. Then the second bounce converts the remaining 60% of the initial impact kinetic energy into another 60% elastic potential energy. Therefore, after the first bounce, the impact kinetic energy remains 60% of its initial impact kinetic energy, and after the second bounce, the impact kinetic energy is further reduced and only remains 36% of its initial kinetic energy, and by repeating the bouncing process, the impact kinetic energy is reduced to minimum such that the portable electronic device is protected.

Preferably, the housing of the protective case further comprises at least one cutout formed in the sidewall and/or the bottom wall of the housing corresponding in position to a button of the electronic device for the convenience of operating the electronic device.

Preferably, the impact absorbers are made of a material selected from the group consisting of: polyurethane, vulcanized polybutadiene and natural rubber.

Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of a protective case having detachable impact absorbers in accordance with the present invention, shown enclosing a portable electronic device;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the first embodiment of protective case having detachable impact absorbers in accordance with the present invention and a portable electronic device;

FIG. 3 is a front view in partial section of the first embodiment of the protective case having detachable impact absorbers in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a side view of the first embodiment of the protective case having detachable impact absorbers, shown enclosing a portable electronic device and placed on the ground;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of a protective case having detachable impact absorbers in accordance with the present invention, shown enclosing a portable electronic device;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged front view in partial section of a third embodiment of a protective case having detachable impact absorbers in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged front view in partial section of a fourth embodiment of a protective case having detachable impact absorbers in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 8 is an enlarged front view in partial section of a fifth embodiment of a protective case having detachable impact absorbers in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, one skilled in the arts can easily realize the advantages and effects of a protective case having detachable impact absorbers for a portable electronic device in accordance with the present invention from the following embodiments. The descriptions proposed herein are just preferable embodiments for the purpose of illustrations only, not intended to limit the scope of the invention. Various modifications and variations could be made in order to practice or apply the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

The first embodiment of the present invention is to provide a protective case having detachable impact absorbers for a portable electronic device, which can convert impact kinetic energy into elastic potential energy when a portable electronic device is dropped onto the ground in varying impact situations.

With reference to FIG. 1, the protective case 1 comprises a housing 10 and multiple impact absorbers 20. The housing 10 is used to enclose a portable electronic device 30. The portable electronic device 30 can be, but is not limited to, a cell phone, and the contour of the protective case 1 can be designed to fit with the portable electronic device 30.

With reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, the housing 10 has a bottom wall 11, four sidewalls 12, a cavity 13, multiple receiving parts 14 and multiple cutouts 15. The four sidewalls 12 are joined to the bottom wall 11 and extend upwards from the bottom wall 11, and are connected with each other to form four corners. The cavity 13 is defined by the bottom wall 11 and the four sidewalls 12 for receiving and holding the portable electronic device 30 inside. The multiple receiving parts 14 are each respectively formed protruding from the corners, and are formed in spherical shapes. In addition, the cutouts 15 are formed in the bottom wall 11 and the sidewalls 12 of the housing 10 and corresponding in position to the buttons of the portable electronic device 30 for the convenience of operating the electronic device 30.

The impact absorbers 20 are detachably mounted onto the receiving parts 14 through multiple connection parts 21. The connection parts 21 are formed in the impact absorbers 20, the positions of the connection parts 21 correspond to those of the receiving parts 14, and the shapes of the connection parts 21 are complementary to those of the receiving parts 14. Each connection part 21 fully caps around the corresponding receiving part 14, thereby four impact absorbers 20 are each individually installed at the four corners of the housing 10.

In the present embodiment, the housing 10 has a hardness equal to or higher than that of each of the impact absorbers 20, and the impact absorbers 20, the connection parts 21, and the receiving parts 14 are formed in spherical shapes.

With reference to FIGS. 2 to 4, at least two of the impact absorbers 20 protrude relative to each sidewall 12 of the housing 10, and the outer diameters of the impact absorbers 20 are each larger than the thickness of the housing 10. Each impact absorber 20 has an outer surface protruding relative to the bottom wall 11 and the four sidewalls 12, and also protruding relative to the edges of the sidewalls opposite to the bottom wall 11. Accordingly, when a portable electronic device 30 is dropped onto the ground accidentally, at least one of the impact absorbers 20 will contact the impact surface 40 first, and neither the housing 10 nor the portable electronic device 30 will directly contact or be hit by the impact surface 40.

Furthermore, the impact absorbers 20 each has a resilience ratio more than 40%. With the elasticity, the protective case 1 can convert the impact kinetic energy into the impact absorbers' elastic potential energy and bounce, then further convert the next impact kinetic energy into elastic potential energy by repeating the bouncing process, thereby gradually reducing the impact kinetic energy to minimum. As a result, the impact force towards the portable electronic device 30 can be reduced to a minimum via multiple conversions during bounces to protect the portable electronic device 30 from damage.

With reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, the shapes of the connection parts 21 are partially deformed by applying a slight force, thereby the impact absorbers 20 can be easily detached from or installed onto the housing 10.

One of the advantages of the present invention is that the impact absorbers 20 are detachably mounted onto the receiving parts 14 of the housing 10 for easy replacement according to varying occasions. For example, the impact absorbers in a second embodiment of the present invention can be replaced by impact absorbers 20A designed and decorated as balls, as shown in FIG. 5, when the user is watching sports. When the user is visiting an amusement park, the impact absorbers can be decorated with cartoon figures. With said changeability in design or decoration of the impact absorbers, the protective case having detachable impact absorbers of the present invention is more economical than the conventional protective case.

With reference to FIG. 6, a third embodiment of the present invention provides a protective case having receiving parts 14B and connection parts 21B different from those in the first embodiment. The receiving parts 14B of the housing 10B are formed in a conical shape and tapered towards the corner of the housing 10B. Each connection part 21B fully caps around its corresponding receiving part 14B and has a shape complementary to that of the receiving part 14B.

With reference to FIG. 7, a fourth embodiment of the present invention provides a protective case having receiving parts 14C and connection parts 21C different from those in the first embodiment. The receiving parts 14C of the housing 10C are formed in a columnar shape and screwed onto the impact absorber 20C. Each connection part 21C fully caps around its corresponding receiving part 14C and has a shape complementary to that of the receiving part 14C.

With reference to FIG. 8, a fifth embodiment of the present invention provides a protective case for a portable electronic device similar to that of the fourth embodiment. The connection part 21D partially caps around its corresponding receiving part 14D. A length of the receiving part 14D capped within the connection part 21D is not less than ½ of a total length of the receiving part 14D.

In summary, since the impact absorbers are detachably mounted onto the receiving parts of the housing, various impact absorbers with different protection capabilities (e.g., impact absorbers with different thicknesses and resilience ratios) can be easily replaced and installed onto the common housing for use in different situations. Accordingly, the protective case having detachable impact absorbers in accordance with the present invention not only appropriately protects the portable electronic device, but also provides the consumers with a more convenient and economical way to protect their portable electronic devices.

Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only. Changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A protective case having detachable impact absorbers for a portable electronic device, comprising: a housing having: multiple sidewalls connected with each other to form multiple corners; a cavity defined by the sidewalls; and multiple receiving parts each respectively formed protruding from the corners; and multiple impact absorbers each respectively and detachably mounted onto the receiving parts through multiple connection parts, wherein the connection parts are each respectively formed in the impact absorbers and cap respectively around the receiving parts.
 2. The protective case as claimed in claim 1, wherein a length of each receiving part capped within a corresponding connection part is not less than ½ of a total length of each receiving part.
 3. The protective case as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least two of the impact absorbers protrude relative to each sidewall of the housing.
 4. The protective case as claimed in claim 1, wherein the housing has a bottom wall jointed to the sidewalls, and the cavity are defined by the sidewalls and the bottom wall.
 5. The protective case as claimed in claim 4, wherein at least two of the impact absorbers protrude relative to the bottom wall of the housing.
 6. The protective case as claimed in claim 1, wherein the housing has a hardness equal to a hardness of each of the impact absorbers.
 7. The protective case as claimed in claim 1, wherein the housing has a hardness higher than a hardness of each of the impact absorbers.
 8. The protective case as claimed in claim 1, wherein the impact absorbers each have a resilience ratio more than 40%.
 9. The protective case as claimed in claim 2, wherein the impact absorbers each have a resilience ratio more than 40%.
 10. The protective case as claimed in claim 7, wherein the impact absorbers each have a resilience ratio more than 40%.
 11. The protective case as claimed in claim 1, wherein the receiving parts of the housing are formed in spherical shapes.
 12. The protective case as claimed in claim 1, wherein the receiving parts of the housing are formed in conical shapes and tapered towards the corners of the housing.
 13. The protective case as claimed in claim 1, wherein the receiving parts of the housing are formed in columnar shapes.
 14. The protective case as claimed in claim 11, wherein the connection parts have shapes complementary to shapes of the receiving parts.
 15. The protective case as claimed in claim 12, wherein the connection parts have shapes complementary to shapes of the receiving parts.
 16. The protective case as claimed in claim 13, wherein the connection parts have shapes complementary to shapes of the receiving parts.
 17. The protective case as claimed in claim 1, wherein the housing has a cutout formed in one of the sidewalls of the housing.
 18. The protective case as claimed in claim 4, wherein the housing has a cutout formed in the bottom wall of the housing.
 19. The protective case as claimed in claim 1, wherein the impact absorbers are made of a material selected from the group consisting of: polyurethane, vulcanized polybutadiene, and natural rubber. 